| Author | Topic | herbhalstead
Starting Member
USA
26 Posts | | AnonJr
Absent-minded Webmaster
USA
621 Posts |  Posted - 06 Sep 2007 : 21:28:48  
| Then just start a new thread about it.  |
There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the whole government working for you.
- Will Rogers |  |
| Grime
Starting Member
USA
26 Posts | Posted - 09 Sep 2007 : 02:38:14 
| Herb: The quote is from "The Last Samurai." I also reason that the lack of needing to defend Christianity from non-believers in your experience is probably due to your approach in delivering the truth. If you approach someone in their need, only to minister to that need, and then they approach you about your faith, they are seeking your answers.
Most atheists with whom I have debated didn't want a debate at all, they wanted either a public rant or a test of my own beliefs. Their minds are already closed to the truth. They only seek to have their point heard and agreed with. They seek validation for their own bad behavior.
Blasto: Fortunately ALL sin has to have consequences. Yes, I mean fortunately. Humans are very motivated by pain and if something hurts enough, we stop doing it. If I sin, horribly and publicly, but the people I love or are closest to quietly and privately minimize it, then do I feel the pain that makes me decide to change my ways? We MUST oppose sin to it's very core, showing mercy upon earnest and sincere repentance.
Jesus only forgave the Pharisees when they genuinely repented, calling them vipers and foxes (akin to cursing them) when they approached Him in their sin. These were religious leaders, held to a standard, and completely missing that standard. And Jesus rebuked them very publicly. When sin becomes public, the consequences also become public.
Finally, the forgiveness of sin does not in any way imply the deliverance from the consequences of that sin. Take the unfaithful spouse that contracts an incurable STD. The adulterer can be forgiven, but that doesn't mean the STD will be cured. Someone can murder another and be forgiven, but that doesn't mean the dead will rise before Jesus comes back. So, we must be ready to love, support and respect the fallen brother/sister who returns to the fold, but we must remember that the consequences of sin are there, and should be there. Would you ever allow the convicted thief to count your morning's tithe and offerings? |
If your dream is not worth your life, then you are dreaming too small. | |
| herbhalstead
Starting Member
USA
26 Posts | Posted - 09 Sep 2007 : 02:54:35
| Grime - you got the quote right...
quote:
Most atheists with whom I have debated didn't want a debate at all, they wanted either a public rant or a test of my own beliefs.
Quite true - a debate isn't really bout conversion - it is about voice.
quote:
Finally, the forgiveness of sin does not in any way imply the deliverance from the consequences of that sin.
That is true, certainly in an earthly sense - however, with Christ's death on the cross, he took the eternal consequence of sin upon himself, allowing us to escape our just deserts (eternally speaking).
I guess what I am saying is that there is a distinction to be made between the effects of sin in this broken world and the effects of sin in the plan of redemption. The mercy of God comes in complete disregard to what is deserved. In marked contrast, this is a broken world through which sin's effects violently ripple. As a redeemed death row inmate once said, "My body is bound in this earthly prison, but my soul has been set free - one day the two will meet."
|
Pastor Herb
www.made2thrive.com
herbhalstead.blogspot.com
www.leadnet.org |
Edited by - herbhalstead on 09 Sep 2007 02:56:27 | |
| Captain Blasto
Cappuccino Junkie
USA
212 Posts | Posted - 09 Sep 2007 : 22:10:53  
| When is a thief no longer a thief?
Ephesians 4:28 -
Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
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President of the
Juan Valdez fanclub
Kirk Out | |
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